DSpace Collection:http://hdl.handle.net/2328/2965
Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:15:47 GMT2015-03-04T00:15:47ZBehaviour: social biology of two Malagasy
Halterapis: evidence that eusociality is plesiomorphic for an ancient allodapine
lineagehttp://hdl.handle.net/2328/9425
Title: Behaviour: social biology of two Malagasy
Halterapis: evidence that eusociality is plesiomorphic for an ancient allodapine
lineage
Authors: Schwarz, Michael Philip; Chenoweth, LukeMon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/2328/94252007-01-01T00:00:00ZPhylogenetics of allodapine bees: a review of
social evolution, parasitism and biogeographyhttp://hdl.handle.net/2328/9405
Title: Phylogenetics of allodapine bees: a review of
social evolution, parasitism and biogeography
Authors: Tierney, Simon M; Smith, Jaclyn Amanda; Chenoweth, Luke; Schwarz, Michael PhilipTue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/2328/94052008-01-01T00:00:00ZSocial complexity in bees is not sufficient to explain lack of reversions to solitary living over long time scaleshttp://hdl.handle.net/2328/2966
Title: Social complexity in bees is not sufficient to explain lack of reversions to solitary living over long time scales
Authors: Chenoweth, Luke; Tierney, Simon M; Smith, Jaclyn Amanda; Cooper, Steven J B; Schwarz, Michael Philip
Abstract: Background
The major lineages of eusocial insects, the ants, termites, stingless bees, honeybees and vespid wasps, all have ancient origins (≥ 65 mya) with no reversions to solitary behaviour. This has prompted the notion of a 'point of no return' whereby the evolutionary elaboration and integration of behavioural, genetic and morphological traits over a very long period of time leads to a situation where reversion to solitary living is no longer an evolutionary option.
Results
We show that in another group of social insects, the allodapine bees, there was a single origin of sociality > 40 mya. We also provide data on the biology of a key allodapine species, Halterapis nigrinervis, showing that it is truly social. H. nigrinervis was thought to be the only allodapine that was not social, and our findings therefore indicate that there have been no losses of sociality among extant allodapine clades. Allodapine colony sizes rarely exceed 10 females per nest and all females in virtually all species are capable of nesting and reproducing independently, so these bees clearly do not fit the 'point of no return' concept.
Conclusion
We argue that allodapine sociality has been maintained by ecological constraints and the benefits of alloparental care, as opposed to behavioural, genetic or morphological constraints to independent living. Allodapine brood are highly vulnerable to predation because they are progressively reared in an open nest (not in sealed brood cells), which provides potentially large benefits for alloparental care and incentives for reproductives to tolerate potential alloparents. We argue that similar vulnerabilities may also help explain the lack of reversions to solitary living in other taxa with ancient social origins.Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/2328/29662007-12-21T00:00:00Z